By Craig Hope

GEORDIE duo Steven Taylor and Andy Carroll have recovered from the respective ankle injuries which kept them sidelined towards the end of last season.

Taylor was forced to pull out of the England Under-21 squad ahead of the European Championships in June, while Carroll missed the final match of the season at Aston Villa.

But both players were out on the club's North Tyneside training pitches earlier this week as the squad reported back for pre-season preparations.

And coach Chris Hughton told nufcTV: "Steven is fine and is training with the main group.

"Andy is training but is working on a different programme for this first week or so, as is Oba Martins.

"But they're out on the training pitch and certainly working hard."